There Were Twenty-Two Others
by BrokenMockingjay
Summary: One-shots concerning the fallen of the 74th Games.
1. Illusions and Mirrors

**There Were Twenty-Two Others**

 ** _Illusions and Mirrors_**

I love mirrors. I really do. Isn't it obvious why I like them? No? Well, Harmoni, it's cause I can see myself in them. No, it's not vanity. Don't you remember? When I see me, I see you. Of course I make sense. You don't make sense. I'm awake, silly. I'm looking in the mirrors, duh…Harmoni! Who did this to me? To you? We aren't this figure in the mirror. Of course not, Harmoni. We're pretty. We aren't bloated and pus covered. This mirror is a silly mirror. Hey, don't you remember the fair we were at when we were little? The mirror hall was hilarious. Harmoni, don't be silly. This isn't funny. What are you now, anyways? You're gone. I'm dead? Don't be crazy. Just cause you disappeared before I was Glimmer and before you were Harmoni doesn't mean you have to be jealous. We can share. It's not a big deal. We're the same anyways…Harmoni? I'm starting to be scared. This isn't funny. I want my mind back.

 **AN: Sorry if that doesn't make much sense. I wrote it on a whim. It's probably gonna be taken down tomorrow after I've re-written it.**


	2. What He Didn't Know (And What He Did)

**There Were Twenty-Two Others**

 ** _What He Didn't Know (And What He Did)_**

When he was younger (when he didn't know better)…

1\. He screamed for his parents when he got hurt (what he didn't know was that the beating his parents would give him would be even worse)

2\. He cried when he was left alone at school (what he didn't know was that he wouldn't be let into the house for the rest of the week)

3\. He messed with his mother's makeup (what he didn't know was that he would be called _gay_ by his family, teachers and schoolmates for the rest of his life)

4\. He didn't dare touch the spear (what he didn't know was that he would be forced to train with the spear until it was like an elongated part of his arm)

5\. He let a girl win the wrestling match because he felt bad for her (what he didn't know was that his trainers would let a hulking eighteen year old pummel him in a 'wrestling' match)

6\. He gave flowers to his mother (what he didn't know was that his mother would grind the flowers into the carpet and spit in his face because he was a _weakling_ )

7\. He told bad jokes and puns (what he didn't know was that his father would take the knife and threaten to Avox him if he didn't shut up)

8\. He clung to his older brother because he was scared of the dentist (what he didn't know was that his brother would pay the dentist to pull out two of his healthy teeth without anaesthesia)

9\. He told his parents that he would _never_ volunteer for the games (what he didn't know was that he would be trained harder than ever, and that he would be specially groomed for the Games)

10\. He tried to run away (what he didn't know was that when he was seventeen the Reaping bowl would be rigged)

And in the end he never came back. _But let us rewind, just a little._

When he was older (when he knew better)…

11\. He knew killing that little girl would mean a quick, painless death (what he knew was that he wouldn't have to go home this way)

Back in District One exasperated sighs could be heard. Maybe next year would be better.

 _Let us fast-forward to a century later._ And in the end nobody remembered him as Marvel. Just as the 'District One male tribute who died in the 74th Games (the last completed games)'.

 **AN: Thank you so much for the reviews and PMs concerning the last chapter. I will not take down the Glimmer chapter due to popular demand and cause Glimmer doesn't want to talk to me right now. Maybe I will write a second Glimmer chapter later. The last chapter can be interpreted as you like. If you want to know my personal theory, just PM me.**


	3. Facets

**There Were Twenty-Two Others**

 ** _Facets_**

Clove. One girl. She had as many facets as a diamond. But all of them were undeniably Clove.

Mother: She had been… a nice girl. Distant, yes. But good manners, polite. Did what was expected of her. Did what would make me happy. She even took up ballet for me. But she had been smart and cunning too. She wasn't above underhanded tricks. Though I never caught her… a mother knows her daughter. Though I'm not very sure anymore of who my little girl was. She was eleven the last time I saw her in the flesh. I didn't send her off. She had requested privacy. Now I realise that Clove wasn't just reclusive. She was lost in herself. Unsure of who to be.

Father: Clove would have been a good businesswoman. She could have made it big-time in the corporate world. Shrewd. Smart. Liar. Actress. That's Clove. She had never been a good person, but what could I do about it? None of us are good people. Anyway, I had wanted to train her to follow in my footsteps as the company CEO, but she wanted to follow the path of the Games. She had been stubborn too. That's all I know about her. It's sad, isn't it, that I had not known my daughter very well?

Alexa (older sister): I hadn't been close with Clove. None of us had, in fact. But I remember that once she was away from home, she was a different person. Vicious. Bloodthirsty. Angry. Completely consumed with training and the Games. Brainwashed. The Capitol was stupid to dispose of such a loyal servant. When I told her that I would stop my training for my studies and marriage, she spat curses in my direction. She said that I would rather be a meek housewife than risk the Games. That I was a weakling. That I wouldn't even serve the Capitol as a Peacekeeper. That I wouldn't even brave the quarries. She was only thirteen then. Those were the last things that she said to me.

Orion (younger brother): I've never met Clove. I know is that she threw knives. That she died at age 14. That she never came back from the Games. Mother let me watch the first and only baby video of her. It had started well enough, with four year old Clove digging around in the backyard happily. Then it took a violent turn. She started stabbing the bugs, worms, slugs and sails that she had found with a stick. Alexa told me that the day before that she had stolen a disc with the sixtieth games on it. She had watched it. She had known about volunteering, of course. The teachers had taught a class about it. Apparently, she had fallen in love with violence.

Trainers: She had been one of the best tributes that the Academy ever produced. She had been silent and deadly. She had picked things up fast. She had wholeheartedly thrown herself into training. She had a 'friendly' rivalry with Cato Hadley. If she had been patient and waited until she was eighteen, she would have won the Games easily. She had been sadistic and psychopathic. But determined too.

Kara (friend): I've known Clove since we were babies, but I never really got her. I've always trained and aspired to become a Peacekeeper, not a volunteer. My first impression of her was insecure and small. But now she's different. She keeps changing. Sort of like a chameleon. Her last colour was the colour of the elite, the top dogs. At school, in the neighbourhood, at the Academy. She just gave off this dangerous, sadistic, authoritative vibe. She hadn't been friendly, and she had been judgemental. She hated the weak. But she put up with me, I guess.

Stubborn. Dangerous. Shrewd. Psychopathic. Nice. Sadistic. Determined. Polite. Unfriendly. Mommy's Girl. Actress. Violent. Judgemental. Reclusive. Wholehearted. Small. Authoritative. Lost. Future CEO. Bloodthirsty. Silent. Liar. Strong. Underhanded. Impatient. Deadly. Vicious. Unsure. Thief. Angry. Smart. Brainwashed. Cunning. Insecure. Capitol Loyalist. Distant. Black-Hearted. Chameleon. Clove.


	4. Year by Year

**There Were Twenty-Two Others**

 ** _Year by Year_**

Year 1

He's the average one-year-old, just bigger, blonder. Oh, and he started walking at eight months.

Year 2

He's said his first word: _Vol-unn-teeeee-er._ He's started to run too.

Year 3

He's started demanding more time outside. His tricycle has long since been splattered with mud and is lying desolately in the garage. He uses his miniature 'motorcycle' now. He seems to like the foam dagger which was his birthday present. Or maybe he just likes hitting the other kids with it. He still hasn't touched his paints or crayons.

Year 4

He has to go to school now, but he still refuses to write properly. He was put in the ' _special'_ class, but a few bites and hits from him change his teacher's mind. He's been tested for the academy. His genes and his appearance grant him an easy _a lot of potential._

Year 5

He's managed to outfight his fellow five year olds in the Academy test. He has finally picked up his crayons, but the pictures are so violent that they're hurriedly taken away. He can't be taken out of the Academy. He's signed a contract, stating that the penalty for breaking off his commitment will result in _punishment._ His parents don't know what to do with him.

Year 6

He's fuming mad. His parents haven't sent him off to the Academy yet _._ He's only allowed to start training when he turns eight, so why does he have to be shipped off to the Academy? They ask. Don't they know anything? It's cooler there. And they start illegally training at six. He doesn't want to be behind his fellow trainees when he _legally_ joins at the age of eight. So for the first time, he starts to plan.

Year 7

He's done it. He's run off to the Academy. He doesn't like the bow and arrows much. It takes to long to string and aim. Wouldn't it be easier to swing a sword and be done with it? He doesn't understand the girls who crowd the bow station, and he supposes he never will.

Year 8

He's mastered all the stations. The newest Victor, Dyonce Eleusini, has personally told him that when the time comes, she'll make sure that he'll be the official District 2 male volunteer for the 74th Games. He decides that he likes her _much more_ than Brutus who chides him for not practicing his knife throwing. But how can he throw knives when _she_ is there? She's better than him, and he's older than her. So he pretends that the knife throwing station doesn't exist.

Year 9

The Academy is his life now. It's the only thing keeping him from going to the community home, so he trains hard, or as hard as he can, to avoid being kicked out. He even does his homework. It's all because his parents disowned him. When he finally went home, they pretended they didn't recognise him and called the cops on him for 'harassing' them. The only thing that saved him from the community home was the Academy. What sent a ice-cold shard into his heart was the little two year old boy that peeked out from behind his mother's legs.

Year 10

He's really training now. He eats, trains, goes to collect his homework, finishes his homework, and sleeps. The only reasons he does his homework are 1) He wants to stay at the Academy, and that requires at least a B minus, and 2) He will be assessed on psychical, mental and emotional strength when the volunteering tests take place.

Year 11

He's starting to really have muscles. He's growing into his form. Girls finally take notice of him. He doesn't know what to think of them.

Year 12

He's _the_ boy. And he plans on _staying_ the boy. Too bad there isn't an _it_ girl for him.

Year 13

A teenager! He's finally a teenager! The lanky brunette boy who hangs by the bow and arrows warn him that thirteen is unlucky. He doesn't care until he breaks his left arm after falling from the tree-climbing area. He hasn't gone near the boy or the trees since. But he sure as hell isn't gonna knock on wood. And he finally realises how harsh training is. He still has to train as usual, actually harder, as a punishment for his broken arm and carelessness. Oh, and he's watching _her._

Year 14

She's named Clove, he hears. She's rumoured to be a sure shoo-in for the 76th games. He doesn't believe them until he sees her throw knives again. If it's even possible, she's improved since the last time he's seen her throw them.

Year 15

He's started throwing knives. He's decent, but she still beats him. When she laughs at him, he challenges her to a sword-fighting contest. He beats her, but she still laughs, like he's pathetic for wanting to up a little girl that's younger than him by two years. He's sure he hates her.

Year 16

He's starting to be obsessed with her. It's just cause he hates her, he convinces himself, but that reasoning comes apart when he realises that he screams _Clove_ instead of Natalie or Ophelia or whatever girl he's fucking when he comes. He doesn't know what to think. Then he realises he knows nothing about himself. He's realising a lot this year.

Year 17

He likes her. He admires her. He's gonna kiss her. But before he can, she gives the trainers an ultimatum: "I'm only gonna continue to be at the Academy if I can volunteer at the 74th Games." He's lost when the trainers say: "Fine." But he understands. She's the best female the Academy has produced in a long time. But he doesn't agree. But the District Two male volunteer for the 74th Games doesn't have a say in the decision. At least they're sort of friends. Maybe friendly rivals is a more suitable term.

Year 18

He's sure he really, really, _really_ , likes her. He's afraid to tell her though. It's laughable to the bystander. He, _Cato_ , is afraid of a little girl? But to him it isn't. She's holding his heart. But he soon pays for his fear.

She's gone, just because he miscalculated the distance. "Cato! Cato!"

"Clove! Clove!"

She calls for him. He calls back.

She's shaking, and trying to stay alive. He calls for her to stay, but she's a shadow, merely flitting away. This time, though, she's slipping through his fingers. She's going. She's going. She's going. She's gone, and she's taken his crooked heart along with he's slipping into pain a few days later, he suddenly feels relief when he finally sees her face. Then he lets go, and he's gone with the blast of his cannon.


	5. Rote Memorisation

**There Where Twenty-Two Others**

 _ **Rote Memorisation**_

She's not much. Not smart. Not pretty. Not strong. Not fast. Not nimble. Not meticulous. She's not much. Not much at all. Maybe the most remarkable thing about her life was her death in the Arena. Even then, she was forgotten in the shadow of the Brutal Beast Cato, the Small Deadly Clove, the Fiery Independent Katniss, the Loving Baker Peeta, the Silent Powerful Thresh. Well, maybe the one thing special about her was her gift of rote memorisation. But even the dumbest could memorise things if the things were repeated. So no. She wasn't special, but she knew the name of each of the tributes. Did that count for something?

Glimmer Casparite

Marvel Sebastian

Cato Hadley

Clove Woodbury

Chelsea Davis

Tinkin Horton

Merrill Ambrose

Darien Hallicon

Eve Fusunine

Turbon Anders

Krystyna Dezue

Fenz Maestas

Sorrel Amande

Acton Ackerly

Twyla Veron

Burl Sheehan

Demetria Cherece

Aviv Hawes

Charlotte Winsley

Jerrold Quinn

Rue Annona

Thresh Kenth

Katniss Everdeen

Peeta Mellark

Well, she got her answer when rote memorisation didn't count or help when Small Deadly Clove came at her with her knives.


	6. Like Father, Like Son

**There Where Twenty-Two Others**

 ** _Like Father, Like Son_**

* * *

 **My story follows the canon storyline, but I took the liberty of filling in the gaps and the unconfirmed canon.**

* * *

Murmurs and whispers on the street.

 _Traitor. Betrayer. Back-stabber._

He looks away in shame, but not in regret. He did what he had to do for his family.

* * *

Murmurs and whispers in his head.

 _Traitor. Betrayer. Back-stabber._

He looks down as he runs away, but he knows that if he could go back in time, he would do the same thing. He did what he had to do for his life, and there was no other way.

* * *

Spit stains the back of his shirt.

He hangs his head and doesn't retaliate as they slap, and he hopes that someday they will understand.

* * *

Rain splashes down on his head.

He looks up to the sky and whispers goodbye as his friend disappears from the world, and hopes that the rain can wash away his shame.

* * *

Quick footsteps sound behind him.

He doesn't turn, but the rosy demon still whispers it's message to him. He just nods, and makes a deal with the devil again.

* * *

Heavy footfalls race to him.

He stops walking and looks down, and lets them catch up to him. He makes them a deal they can't resist, and seals his fate.

* * *

He braces himself for what is to come.

Maybe the fiend will have some mercy and do it quickly. It's quick, all right. He can't feel anymore as death seeps into his body.

* * *

He knows the end is near.

The giant brute picks up his frame and he prays that the cacodemon will do it fast. It's fast, all right. He can't even think anymore or hear the snap.


	7. Just Like Four

**There Were Twenty-Two Others**

 ** _Just Like Four_**

* * *

Four is an in-between district.

I'm an in-between girl.

Some years, we're Careers.

Some days, I feel normal.

Others, we're Bloodbaths.

Others, I feel insane.

More privileged than nine twelfths.

Less than the other two.

Four is more superficial than One.

I'm a mindless, superficial doll.

My district is a beautiful place.

They say I'm a beautiful girl.

But the people are disgusting and everything they taught us to never be.

But I'm a horrible person who I detest.

Oh, the beauty, the loveliness!

Oh, the black, ugly core.

She's in-between.

She's privileged.

She's superficial.

She's beautiful.

Just like Four.

Just like Four.

* * *

 **AN: I'm sorry, this is below my usual standards.**

 **-BrokenMockingjay**


	8. Actors

**There Were Twenty-Two Others**

 ** _Actors_**

He's always stared up the huge, muscled, students of the academy. He's always sort of admired them, after all, they all vie for the title of 'volunteer', and all hope to be the one in the arena.

Every year though, at least one of them falls.

His first memory of the Hunger Games was watching a tall, slender redhead from his district get a knife in the chest. A swift, fluid movement, almost like a dance move. When the redhead fell, he had though that she was faking. After all, the three-year old him had thought that they were actors.

They weren't.

He wonders: Will Marcus, his three year old brother, think that his older brother is faking when he sees him fall?


	9. Nightlock

**There Were Twenty-Two Others**

 ** _Nightlock_**

* * *

 _Nightlock. Nightlock. Nightlock._

 _Nightlock._

You want to smile, laugh, curse, and cry. You're so hungry. Oh, you are. You feel as if your stomach is trying to _eat_ you. You just want to eat. So you followed Peeta and Katniss, hoping to nick some of their food. You couldn't follow the others: Thresh was somewhere in the fields, and you did not want to meet him. He was and is dangerous. _Very dangerous._ You couldn't follow Cato. Cato would kill you in the bloodiest, most disgusting way. He still wasn't over the death of his district partner. Anyways, he didn't know squat about foraging for food in the forest. His only source of food was from the sponsors, and he guarded the food like it was his lifeline. Well, in a way, it was. So you followed Peeta and Katniss. You figured that if you were found, Peeta wouldn't kill you and Katniss would kill you fast. Also, Katniss actually knows how to find food in his damned forest.

So while Peeta and Katniss were off finding food, you darted out and grabbed some cheese and a handful of berries.

Berries.

 _Nightlock._

You have two choices:

One: Throw away the berries and try to find other edible food.

Two: Eat the berries.

 _Eat the berries._

 _Eat the nightlock._

You can't go with option one. You've ben trying to find food for days, to no avail. Your head is spinning. You can't concentrate. You can't be sure of what is edible. For once in your life, _you don't know._ If you don't die of hunger, you could either be torn apart by Cato, decapitated by Thresh, cut down by Katniss' arrow, or be eaten slowly by the Capitol's mutts.

After all, we can't have a small, quiet girl become the accidental Victor, can we?

Option two. Commit suicide. You don't have a home to go back to. Your family died a long time ago. This way, you could die painlessly. Quickly. You could die in an act of rebellion against the Capitol.

You hear Katniss' and Peeta's raised voices, coming closer. It's time to choose.

 _Walk away._

 _Eat._

Eat.

You cup the dark berries in your hands.

So small, so innocent looking.

The sun's rays kiss the berry skins.

It's beautiful, you think. It's a good last thing to see.

You watch the berries a little longer, capturing the moment. Then you close your eyes, and lift the berries to your lips.

Your teeth break the delicate skins, and the juices are sweet.

 _Sweet._

It's a good last thing to taste, you think.

Then you swallow.

And you are no more.

* * *

 **AN: To everyone who reviewed- Thanks a lot! Reviews make my day :)**


	10. Jealous

**There Were Twenty-Two Others**

 ** _Jealous_**

* * *

Every reaping, he feels jealous.

Jealous because the reaped tributes will get to see the world, while he has to stay in the stupid wind farm that his family owns.

He longs to see the world.

He wants to see huge flat plains, not a crowded, urban city.

He wants to touch and hug apple trees, not bump into grey, ugly, skyscrapers.

He wants to get out of District 5 and never come back.

If he's reaped, he can do all that.

But he feels a sense of duty to his parents: He's an only child.

He feels a sense of duty to his friends: They've already lost two to the Games.

He feels a sense of duty to his District: He'll find an endless but eco-friendly energy source.

That's what stops him from volunteering.

But that doesn't stop him from eagerly waiting for the Hunger Games to come by each year.

On his fifteenth birthday: "Turbon Anders!"

Then he realises that he probably shouldn't have been jealous of the dead.

* * *

 **Thanks again if you reviewed! They made me so happy :)**


	11. 4 out of 5 (or Stages of Grief)

******There Were Twenty-Two Others**

 ** _4 out of 5 (or Stages of Grief)_**

* * *

 ** _One Day A.M (After Mom)_**

 _"_ Mommy is coming home."

"No she isn't. Get that through your brain, idiot"

"Yes she is! She told me so, Daddy."

"She isn't getting stuff from the supermarket! She isn't out for tea! SHE'S GONE! Forever! She's D-E-A-D! Get that through your ugly skull!"

"You're a liar! A dirty liar! She TOLD ME SO!"

"Shut up, bitch! You're just like your mother, unwilling to face FACTS!"

"Good thing I'm like Mom. I wouldn't want to be like you!"

"To your room. Now."

"You're not the boss of me. Mom is."

 _ **Three Weeks A.M**_

 _Daer Mommmy,_

 _i hate you. U told me u wold come back hme but u didnt n now im stuc with daady. U lyed to me! I hate you and hope you never ever ever cme back._

 ** _6 Months A.M_**

 _Mommy, I'm sorry. I'll be a very goood girl if you come home, I promise. I won't pranck you or daddy and I'll never ever steael again. I wont gett into fights and ill try very super hard at school. I'll try to spell rite like I'm spelling know. I'll even try out for gymnnassstics if you come home. I'll make yu and daddy sandwitches for breakfast everyday and I won't swear even when daddy swears at me. Mo0mmy, please come home. If you do, I'll try to be the mostest perfect girl ever. I promise._

 _ **1 Year A.M**_

 _Mommy, why? Why me? Why did you have to go out to return the clothes even though it was snowing? Why couldn't you have waited? Why did that truck driver decide that the road was okay to drive on? Why did he even become a truck driver? Why was he even born? Mommy, why? I wish you stayed home. I wish that that driver never ever existed. I wish that it'll never snow again. Mommy...why,why,why,why,why?_

 _ **10 Years A.M**_

"I'm going to die tomorrow, Mommy. I'll see you soon."

* * *

 **Sorry for the** **slow update! I know this chapter doesn't really tie into THG, but it relates to some very real situations.**

 **Thanks for all the reviews! Here, have a cookie (::)**

 **-BM**


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